Wednesday, 28 April 2010

Who needs a camera when you can pick up a broken bluebell stalk, take it home, scan it and somehow preserve its' beauty for ever. Mind you, you can't do that with a brooding landscape or even a beautiful woman. You might just be able to do it with a dog though. Amy, Amy, come here girl!

Tuesday, 27 April 2010

I took this picture of this little Yorkshire lane this morning whilst Amy and I were out walking. There was something about the greenness of the grass and the mass of different styles visible in that row of houses. It is nothing special, it is just typical of a thousand little lanes here abouts. Perhaps that is what makes it worth recording.

Monday, 26 April 2010

Now let me see.... could it possibly be Shepherds Thorn Lane? After the General Election when politicians get serious about cutting public expenditure could I suggest that we get rid of superfluous road signage rather than closing hospital wards. Although you can't see it on this photograph, there is another similar sign on the other side of what is a very narrow lane that goes nowhere.

Friday, 23 April 2010

Amy and I went for a walk towards Huddersfield. Just north of the town there is still a lot of stone-built terraced houses. But where at one time each street would nestle up close to its neighbour, now there is open space between them. It somehow makes them look grand. I can almost imagine Canaletto painting them. Almost, but not quite

Thursday, 22 April 2010

Everything seems to be late this year. Here we are approaching May and in many places fresh shoots are just beginning to emerge. But when those shoots decide it is time to face the outside world they tend not to let anything get in their way. Even a stone wall.

Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Tree against a blue sky. The long cold winter has meant that the buds of new leaves are late in appearing. And the patterns made by the gnarled branches remind you why forests in children's books are such scary places.

Monday, 19 April 2010

For a variety of reasons I don't seem to have taken any photographs during the last few days. However I was scanning a few old negatives earlier today and came across a perfect example of a disaster rescued. The original black and white negative (which I must have taken thirty years ago) was badly exposed and, as far as I can remember, I never even bothered printing it. But now scanned and sharpened up with Photoshop, it provides an attractive study of shape and composition.

Tuesday, 13 April 2010

There is a strength in a Yorkshire dry stone wall, a strength that comes from belonging. It may look as though it is about to collapse, it may have stones out of place. But there is a solidity that reflects solidarity : arm in arm, the stones against the world.

Monday, 12 April 2010

Wandering around a graveyard the other day I came across a memorial to the Lee family. There was just something about the starkness and simplicity of the name, the strength of the lettering and the layered design in the cold marble. I liked it and therefore I photographed it.

Saturday, 10 April 2010

Amy and I came across this tree on our walk yesterday. It is old, gnarled and looks as if it might have seen too much of the world. The trunk seems a little too full and there is evidence of dead wood in the most alarming places. But still the returning Spring is tempting it back to life for another season. Or maybe two. Or maybe more. "Reminds me of you", my dog said to me. Well I think that is what she said.

Thursday, 8 April 2010

I recently realised that there was a fair chance that I might die before getting an iPhone. The choices facing me were to eat less food and drink less drink and therefore live longer, or spend the Lad's inheritance and buy one now. Of course I bought one. I thought I would give its photographic abilities a try today and therefore I interrupted listening to the latest episode of The Archers to take a photograph as I walked Amy through Bradley Woods. I won't be abandoning my other cameras, but it is passable in an emergency.

Wednesday, 7 April 2010

I can never resist a well painted sign on a wall. I don't need to understand what it says or what it means. It's the flow of the letters and the shapes and patterns it embroiders on the surface : to me it is as beautiful as a Fallen Madonna or a Sacred Triptych. It probably has something to do with the fact that my father was apprenticed to a sign-writer. But the apprenticeship only lasted for half a day : so maybe not.

Saturday, 3 April 2010

If you climb up the steep hillside behind the French town of Ribeauvillé, you pass through first vineyards and then forests, and eventually you reach the ruined and quite magnificent Château de Saint-Ulrich. You continue to climb through the dark and brooding ruins and eventually you go up some old stone stairs and out into daylight once again. And you then have one of the finest views in Alsace, a view well worth all the climbing and scurrying. This picture was taken a couple of months ago when the weather was still cuttingly cold. But it was well worth it and that view is going to stay with me a long time.

About Me

One time lecturer, writer on European Affairs and bus conductor, Alan Burnett now divides his time between walking the dog and a little harmless blogging. His News From Nowhere Blog has been running since 2006 and acts as a showcase for his ranting and writing and his photographs old and new.